English Accents Ranked from Easy to Hard to Understand (with TEST & Examples)

hello everyone and welcome back to english with lucy i've missed you a lot has changed firstly new background uh we have moved house we have moved to another part of the country i've got lots to tell you about that but i'll speak about it on my personal channel lucy bella other big news is that can't quite believe it i'm married i got married to my husband william and my name is now lucy bella simmkins instead of lucy bella earl i did choose to take my husband's surname so enough about me and more about you today we're looking at different accents from across the world different english accents and we're going to rank them from easiest to most difficult to understand i recently made another similar video uh ranking accents from all across the uk today we're going to look further afield and compare how easy different accents are i put out a survey to my audience with lots of different clips and over 10 000 of you participated it's not the most scientific survey on earth so take the results with a pinch of salt but i think it'll be really really fun to compare these accents this is a great listening practice opportunity for you as well i'm going to play each 15 to 20 second clip twice the first time without subtitles and the second time with subtitles so you can check your understanding it's also excellent to familiarize yourself with as many different accents as possible this will help you improve your listening skills and your general understanding as always there is a free pdf that goes with today's lesson if you'd like to download that just click on the link in the description box enter your name and your email address and the pdf will go directly to your inbox and then every week after that you will automatically receive my free pdfs a huge thank you to the sponsor of today's video woodpecker learning and it's oh so relevant for today's lesson woodpecker is a free video player app built for english learning the app has over 300 000 videos in english all with accurate subtitles they are all organized by topics so you can look through find something that interests you that you want to watch and immerse yourself in the subject it's especially perfect for videos with hard to understand accents as we'll be talking about today with woodpecker you can quickly learn new words just by touching them and you can save words that you've looked up in your word history i always go on about word lists private dictionaries you should absolutely use this tool you can also repeat phrases again and again to improve your pronunciation and your understanding one part that really excites me is that it can combine with netflix this lets you touch any word whilst watching your favorite shows on netflix so even netflix and chill can be a learning experience it's free to watch videos and look up words with woodpecker so i highly recommend you download it now the link is in the description box and if you want to try the netflix integration they are offering a seven-day free trial of that just click on the link in the description to get the woodpecker learning app on google play or the app store all right let's get started with the ranking of the accents so number 10 the accent that you voted most difficult to understand is the melbourne accent from australia as spoken by chris hemsworth let's have a look firstly without subtitles see how much you understand and then we'll repeat it again with subtitles i really knew nothing about what the film was going to be or yet the rest of the town did not sort of just arrived and and i hadn't i'd sent a tape early on and and it was sort of last-minute phone call where jj abrams the director called and said um look can you come in tonight like friday afternoon i was like okay yeah and i said i don't know the script or whatever read at the desk with him in his office and he goes okay great you got the part you start monday so he's talking in a very casual informal way as if he's chatting with friends he's also speaking very quickly a couple of things i've picked up on is he says new instead of new when i say instead of i mean i pronounce it new i speak with a modern rp accent but obviously part of his dialect is no in american english they do this as well let's listen again with subtitles and see how much you understand i i really knew nothing about what the film was going to be or yet the rest of the town did not sort of just arrived and and i hadn't i'd sent a tape early on and it was sort of a last-minute phone call where jj abrams the director called and said um look can you come in tonight like friday afternoon i was like okay yeah and i said i don't know the script or whatever read at the desk with him in his office and he goes okay great you got the part you start monday yeah very quick i'm not surprised some of you found that challenging right let's go to number nine this is a uk accent this is kimberly walsh speaking with her lovely yorkshire accent let's have a listen without subtitles it was fun actually i quite liked her sort of settled back into it and the kids were lovely so they made me feel quite welcome and i had i don't know if you know but i've got a little baby in the film vomiting beer she's cold so i was there kept occupied with her for a lot of the time just kind of making sure that she didn't stop crying in the middle of the scene so one thing i notice about the way kimberly speaks is she uses the glottal stop a lot so where i said lot she might say lot can you hear her say quite welcome instead of quite welcome one word i love from her is lovely with the yorkshire accent my a sound becomes a o sound i say lovely she says lovely yeah that's really warm and lovely let's listen again with subtitles see how much you understood it was fun actually i quite liked her sort of settled back into it and the kids were lovely so they made me feel quite welcome and i had i don't know if you know but i've got a little baby in the film vomiting beer she's called so i was there kept occupied with her for a lot of the time just kind of making sure that she didn't stop crying in the middle of the scene really nice that's definitely not the strongest yorkshire accent i've ever heard though i've heard some really really strong ones sometimes especially with celebrities they alter their accents when they're in interviews so sometimes you get a more reduced version of their natural accent okay at number eight we have someone from the caribbean it is the wonderful rihanna from barbados this is a very early video because i've kind of noticed as she's gone along she has started to alter her accent slightly that's probably because she's spent so much time in the u.s and possibly because of media training as well so i've taken one of her really early interviews have a listen see how much you understand and see if you can notice any differences as well any characteristics of her accent my influences are beyonce mariah carey alicia keys whitney houston i always used to sing in the shower i used to stay at home neighbors would complain because i used to be singing so lovely but i've never met a celebrity and to have to audition for one and meet him at the same time like jay-z someone like him i was so i was hysterical gorgeous saxon gorgeous big characteristic for me is where i say a beyonce jay-z maid she says er beyonce um jay-z i'm feeling really embarrassed trying to imitate her accent there i'm not doing it any justice at all i'd say jay-z she says sort of jersey i say neighbours she says more of it neighbours i find that vowel sound that she creates there really hard to imitate and to replicate but i find her accent absolutely stunning let's listen again see how much you pick up on my influences are beyonce mariah carey alicia keys whitney houston i always used to sing in the shower i used to stay at home neighbors would complain because i used to be singing so lovely but i've never met a celebrity and to have to audition for one and meet him at the same time like jay-z someone like him i was so i was hysterical oh it's amazing to hear that and how she's never met a celebrity yeah and to think how fast she's come since that was shot amazing right let's move on to number seven this lady is from new zealand she's actually from auckland and her name is lord you might know her let's have a listen to lord and her accent i don't know i mean i am always pretty guest to be in an award show and i find it like very um entertaining so much going on but i'm sure if you like had more skin in the game maybe it would be uh you know a stressful environment but i feel like i'm still kind of the outsider who really right so i recently did a video with rosie from not even french she's from new zealand um and we compared accents and one really clear characteristic is where i say er stressful people from new zealand in general say e stressful so stressful stressful so the f becomes an e sound red pen rid pin have a listen again with subtitles and see how much you understand i don't know i mean i am always pretty guest to be in an award show and i find it like very um entertaining so much going on but i'm sure if you like had more skin in the game maybe it would be uh you know a stressful environment but i feel like i'm still kind of the outsider who because you're just like you're drinking that really that person interrupting her at the end ah right so at number six we have sasha ronan she's from ireland um she speaks with a dublin accent some people have said to me that you can definitely notice that she's traveled around as well i find this accent to sound incredibly delicate and beautiful i hope you enjoy it too let's have a listen pajamas we get into pajamas we get into our christmas pajamas i got i got a christmas jumper a few years ago from this irish company can't remember the name of them but it says happy birthday jesus on it i just found it really funny very sweet so um i wear that and we just eat all day and have a few tipples and watch movies because i think that's what everyone does you have a favorite movie so one characteristic that i really notice with her accent is she almost whistles her teeth in a way and i would say eat but she says eat almost as if she hasn't completely closed the gap between the roof of her mouth and her tongue eat um i find that very very pleasant to hear the way she says the i sound irish irish beautiful let's listen again pajamas we get into pajamas we get into our christmas pajamas i got i got a christmas jumper a few years ago from this irish company you can't remember the name of them but it says happy birthday jesus on it i just found it really funny very sweet so um i wear that and we just eat all day and have a few tips and watch movies a tipple is an informal kind of slang word for a drink it doesn't always mean alcoholic but the way she's saying it i think she's meaning we're naughty we have a cheeky drink a tipple do you fancy a tipple what's your tipple is what's your favorite drink next at number five at the midway point we have shill pachetti and she's speaking english with an indian accent and i asked some of my indian followers where they would kind of place her accent and i got various responses but in general people said well she's from the south of india so it's kind of like southern indian english in a way let's have a listen honestly it wasn't that contrived it has to come from um fun and then you realize with the encouragement and the likes on these various social media handles that they're liking what you're doing and then you're like okay let me just do this again and then that again becomes a trend um for example the sunday binges i mean it was just a it was just really one of those one-off crazy things that i did on a sunday to prove my proof to my friend that i do eat with shilpa's accent what really sticks out to me is the vowel sounds i say social with an o sound she says it more with an or sound social um almost sounds a bit like northern english and also the r sound i really struggle to reproduce the r sound that is common in indian english accents but you can hear when she says trend i say er trend and hers is more of a trend with the word realize she says realize and it's that r sound again and i i kid you not i cannot do it i'll just sit at home going trying to do it let's listen again but this time with subtitles oh honestly it wasn't that contrived it has to come from um fun and then you realize with the encouragement and the likes on these various social media handles that they're liking what you're doing and then you're like okay let me just do this again and then that again becomes a trend for example the sunday binges i mean it was just a it was just really one of those one-off crazy things that i did on a sunday to prove my proof to my friend that i do eat okay at number four we've had quite a few females we've got another male this man is all right all right all right i wonder if you've guessed who he is it is matthew mcconaughey speaking with his gorgeous texan accent have a listen uh yes mcconaughey here and i want to welcome you to my youtube channel it's a destination where i'm going to share who i am who i'm not what i believe in what i don't what i'm doing what i'm not doing along with some approaches to life that i've found useful and constructive along the way do you hear he said youtube as well that's like chris hemsworth he said new youtube for me an rp it would be new and for youtube we actually say youtube kind of a cha sound the t together becomes a cha youtube youtube for him youtube for us another thing i picked up on is he said doing so he is saying an sound instead of an sound as i would say at the end of an ing word doing doing let's have a listen again with subtitles uh yes mcconaughey here and i want to welcome you to my youtube channel it's a destination where i'm going to share who i am who i'm not what i believe in what i don't what i'm doing what i'm not doing along with some approaches to life that i've found useful and constructive along the way okay at number three we have cindy lauper she speaks with a very strong new york accent i put my mom in the video and i tried to put as many different races of women that represent new york because that's how we live and i i was always watching mtv honestly wendy and and it was either you know it was very segregated to me and i just thought you know hell's bells let's just mix it up she's very cool for me the biggest giveaway that somebody is from new york is the way they say new york did you hear her she says new york york like that new york york it's hard to do see if you can pick it up when we watch it the second time with subtitles i put my mom in the video and i tried to put as many different races of women that represent new york because that's how we live and i i was always watching mtv honestly wendy and and it was either you know it was very segregated to me and i just thought you know hell's bells let's just mix it up with the word thought as well for what yeah that's very distinctive characteristic okay at number two we have the accent that you voted second easiest to understand it's a victoria's secret model she is called candace swanopole i'm hoping that's right if anyone's from south africa because she speaks with a south african accent please could you correct me and give me some advice in the comments section swannapool i did look it up but it was a journalist saying it and we all know that journalists don't always get everything right now i will say in this clip candace speaks very slowly and clearly so that could have influenced the result um but i love the south african accent one of my closest friends is from south africa in fact two of them actually great people we had so much fun doing those looks i mean i didn't feel like a fit model at all i just had so much fun trying everything on like it's such a lovely experience and you you asked me earlier if i thought about the different outfits that i didn't get not at all i was just you know happy to be a part of the family so for me what's very distinctive is her vowel sounds and the way she pronounces them for example i would say at all hers is a very graceful way at all i say at she says moreover it it's hard to put my finger on it but i feel like her vowel sounds are almost a bit shortened so it sounds choppier when she speaks have another listen with subtitles and see how much you understand i had so much fun doing those looks um i mean i didn't feel like a fit model at all i just had so much fun trying everything on like it's such a lovely experience and you you asked me earlier if i thought about the different outfits that i didn't get not at all i was just you know happy to be a part of the family very graceful okay finally let's talk about the accent that you voted as number one the easiest to understand it is the scottish sort of edinburgh accent spoken by karen gillan now as with all accents there are various different strengths um and she is on an american talk show so she might have adapted her accent slightly to the situation but you can definitely hear strong characteristics of the scottish and edinburgh accent in there let's have a listen what do you eat there on christmas well i eat this is not just christmas but this is every single morning black pudding do you know what that is no does anyone know what that is here okay there are two fans who love blackpink okay so i don't think i can eat it anymore because i just googled what it's made of like before i came on stage and it's the main ingredient is fresh pig's blood she's talking about black pudding it's a typical sausage in the uk and it's made from blood basically i know there are versions in spain which contain blood and rice morphe um and it is nice but it's not to everyone's taste i personally think it's good to use waste parts of the animal that might not be used elsewhere but other people can't get their head around that so a strong characteristic of her accent is the way she says as i say a hers is more of an ear so for example i made and she would say mead also did you notice when she says morning as i would say she said morning with an in instead of an ing as i would say with an ing word we had another accent that did that as well didn't we matthew mcconaughey he said doing i think it's quite common to do that what are you doing in fact i would say that actually quite frequently if i'm talking to someone casually what are you doing what are you doing instead of what are you doing let's listen again once more with subtitles what do you eat there on christmas well i eat this is not just christmas but this is every single morning black pudding do you know what that is no does anyone know what that is here okay there are two fans who love blackpink okay so i don't think i can eat it anymore because i just googled what it's made of like before i came on stage and it's the main ingredient is fresh pig's blood yes so you voted that to be the easiest to understand but i will say it was very tight between the south african accent and the scottish accent right that is it for today's accent analysis i hope you enjoyed it and i hope you learned something i'm really really enjoying these videos if you have any recommendations for accents that i should look at or different ways i should do the survey because it's it's hard to make it fair i must say um or if there are any celebrities that you'd like me to take a look at please put it down in the comments section below i will take a look at it don't forget to download the free pdf that goes with today's lesson just click on the link in the description box you enter your name and your email address and it will go directly to your inbox and then every week after that you will automatically receive my pdfs also don't forget to check out woodpecker learning i've got the links for the app store and the google play store in the description box don't forget to check out my personal channel i've just moved house i've just got married there's a lot going on and i'm going to tell you all about it there all of the videos there are fully subtitled and show our life here in the english countryside i can't wait to share a little bit more about the big changes that have been going on in our life don't forget to connect with me on all of my social media i've got my instagram and i've got my facebook i've also got my website englishwithlucy.co.uk where i've got a really cool pronunciation tool you can click on the phonemes and hear me pronounce said phonemes and words that contain those phonemes ed no it's a lot of fun i will see you soon for another lesson [Music] [Music] i'm

Channel: English with Lucy

Views: 198,287

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Id: aIDfw3wrK7M

Length: 23min 38sec (1418 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 07 2021